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Kurly, the South Korean online grocery giant, just terminated its initial public offerings (IPO) plans for its Market Kurly grocery shopping brand. The company, which also offers delivery services, said it postponed its listing in Korea’s stock market because of the current dismal market conditions.
With its decision to cancel its IPO plans, Kurly will have to resubmit its application once again to be listed as a Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) company. It has already passed the initial examination by the Korea Exchange (KRX) in August of last year and was given a listing deadline of Feb. 22. However, Kurly decided not to push through and may try again some time in the future.
The Market Kurly operator said that market conditions in the country these days are not good enough. With the KOSPI showing a decrease of 25% in 2022, it was not only Kurly that canceled its IPO but many other companies as well, including SK Shieldus, Hyundai Engineering, and One Store, Korea Joongang Daily reported.
Moreover, Kakao’s Japanese subsidiary, Kakao Piccoma, Lionheart Studio, and SSG.com have also postponed their listing plans. It was also explained that another reason for Kurly’s move to delay its IPO is the longer-than-expected assessment period by the KRX.
It was revealed that the online grocery originally filed its application in March 2022, and it took five months to finish the review due to Kurly’s losses and the small stake of Sophie Kim, who is the firm’s chief executive officer.
“We decided to postpone the IPO due to the global economic slowdown and weakening investor sentiment,” the company said in a statement on Wednesday, Jan. 4. “We will go ahead with the listing at a time when the company can be properly evaluated.”
Finally, Aju Business Daily reported that Kurly’s spokesman remained optimistic about the IPO since the company has shown far better performance compared to its rivals last year. But despite this, some market observers opined that it might be difficult or almost impossible for the company to push through with the public offering again soon as many bigger companies have already scrapped their listing for good, citing similar reasons.
